The sheer number of buttons is just not fun

[Magnijung]

They are a lot of abilities but something that I find refreshing in comparison with other games, 90% of the abilities are actually useful and by utilizing all of them you are a much better player.

[Aethyriel]

Well the problem is there's no macros, that's why the sheer number of buttons is crazy. It's not a matter of not knowing how to play. I play Commando and there's tons of stuff I would like to hot key, different grenades, different heals. I play Gunner so...all my tool bars are full. In a fight I can use at least 15 different abilities. If you don't find the amount of buttons annoying then chances are you're not playing your character up to it's true potential and just spamming a couple things.

 

Or you're actually able to handle a little more complex rotation and you're able to time your cooldowns right, why do you want to dump it down? And I don't get your hotkey problem either, 1-5 qertfgcv are all very easy to hit, same if you bind them all with shift for another skill and then you also have your mousebuttons, that's more than enough to pull it off easily with a little practise that actually comes while leveling.

[FeeFiFoFum]

If you dont like all the abilities roll any BH or a sorc. Problem solved.

[Magnijung]

If you dont like all the abilities roll any BH or a sorc. Problem solved.

 

Just roll the trooper AC that just spams gravity bomb.

[Darth_Gao_Gao]

Just roll the trooper AC that just spams gravity bomb.

 

just be bad and keep reading the forums to base my gameplay opinions on.

[mufutiz]

Then you spend your entire time staring at different bars....

 

exactly.

 

bars you can position close to your field of view, in clear and vibrant colors, slap a number timer next to them for good measure.

 

as well as clearly visibile indicators for procs and dots/hots instead of having to look out for tiny little icons on top of the character frames.

 

It's archaic design, really really bad design.

 

I just hope they adress all of it in the 1.2 UI revamp.

 

 

 

 

 

I might agree with that if the game just started development in 2012, but it didn't. Much of the UI design was probably done several years ago.

 

The UI was done multiple times better years ago in other games as well.

Edited February 23, 2012 by mufutiz

[ferroz]

The UI was done multiple times better years ago in other games as well.

Oh come now, the UI isn't that bad... it's almost on par with the velious era EQ one

[ferroz]

That's 18 abilities which can be triggered at a moments notice.

That's cool. I have almost 3 bars of stuff that I need to be able to use while fighting. So 18 isn't nearly enough.

[denpic]

Theres a few good guides for guardians around

 

Some abilities a replaced By others like

slice is replace By Sunder

Slash is replace by guardian slash overhead strike and zen leap not sure of exacte

Names

Opportunity strike and pummel strike are Worthless in Pvp

 

 

Also keyboard macros work and you can make

Slice a toggle auto attack with A sunder every 5secs

[Fomby]

I just made a guardian at lvl 16 now so I don't have a ton of abilities. So take my response as you will.

 

 

If they have so many useful buttons and one can use them properly, shouldn't this give the class an advantage? My lvl 44 sage healer really only has 7 or so useful abilities making my damage output poor. (of course this made my healing awesome soooo... I'm not sure I have a point...)

[Varus_Praetor]

Most of the abilities are situational. SOME of them are so situational that they probably shouldn't exist or should be fused with other abilities.

 

This.

 

If the ability only works on 20% of PvE mobs and doesn't work in PvP at all, get rid of it, buff the rest of our abilities to compensate.

 

Seriously, I don't need an ability that only works against weak or standard PvE mobs and only after a stun. I can burn weak and standard mobs down with AOE, I don't need a special "I Win" button for these situations.

[Kubernetic]

I don't know about most other players, but I'm usually just using the 1-5 keys with my left hand while I'm using the mouse to select my 8-10 most damaging moves. I don't fool around with most of the rest of them unless it's a particular ability needed for specific reasons like crowd control.

 

I find if you're using the most damaging abilities, you can use a core set while using your 1-3 main attacks that build up your ammo/focus/etc. Doesn't seem like overload at all to me.

[Alexi_son]

This is where and why a macro system like what was incorporated in RIFT would be *SO* useful in SWToR.

 

I don't want add-ons, and I don't want any 3rd party program to play the game for me, but as a Jedi Guardian, I have over 25 abilities - situational, non-situational, on short to moderate cool-downs, that it just becomes more annoying to watch which ability is ready vs. watching combat to see where I should be attacking, guarding, or taunting.

 

All I'm doing is playing whack-a-mole with ability cool downs so much I can't watch the actual fights themselves.

 

Some folks out there may enjoy it, but those I've talked to directly in game all have not. I've yet to find one person actually playing a 50 guardian that enjoys the sheer number of different buttons.

 

If we had a triage macro system where we could stack a lot of those situationals into one button, and let that attack routine triage those based on which was available to activate, that would GREATLY improve the play experience for me. It's one of the best features RIFT had.

 

And I do use certain abilities more, it would just be nicer to triage them onto a couple buttons vs. taking up 3 separate bars worth of real-estate.

 

I sometimes feel that EA / Bioware added a lot of the abilities Jedi Guardians get, just to add something so folks feel like they're gaining new abilities as they level.

Edited February 23, 2012 by Alexi_son

[DJunior]

This is where and why a macro system like what was incorporated in RIFT would be *SO* useful in SWToR.

 

I don't want add-ons, and I don't want any 3rd party program to play the game for me, but as a Jedi Guardian, I have over 25 abilities - situational, non-situational, on short to moderate cool-downs, that it just becomes more annoying to watch which ability is ready vs. watching combat to see where I should be attacking, guarding, or taunting.

 

All I'm doing is playing whack-a-mole with ability cool downs so much I can't watch the actual fights themselves.

 

Some folks out there may enjoy it, but those I've talked to directly in game all have not. I've yet to find one person actually playing a 50 guardian that enjoys the sheer number of different buttons.

 

If we had a triage macro system where we could stack a lot of those situationals into one button, and let that attack routine triage those based on which was available to activate, that would GREATLY improve the play experience for me. It's one of the best features RIFT had.

 

And I do use certain abilities more, it would just be nicer to triage them onto a couple buttons vs. taking up 3 separate bars worth of real-estate.

 

I sometimes feel that EA / Bioware added a lot of the abilities Jedi Guardians get, just to add something so folks feel like they're gaining new abilities as they level.

 

I think you're very right. I've played Rift as well, and honestly, unfortunately, because we are all huge Star Wars fans, the game plays smoother, better, and is just better in general. SWTOR is a little broken to me without any form of a macro system. The gameplay becoming somewhat clunky. EA and Bioware need to consider the fact that they are removing an integral staple of virtually all MMOs, yet not changing the gameplay one bit. Guild Wars 2's system seems to be very functional, more simplified, yet still with depth, and most importantly, it's a fresh idea.

 

I truly hoped, being a big fan of Bioware games, and how unique they are, that they might bring some fresh ideas to the table and revitalize the MMO scene. As it stands, they are sticking with the old system, removing longtime integral elements, yet acting like TOR is some kind of an advance in gaming, and it most certainly is not. I, like everyone else, am here because I want to play Star Wars. Bioware and EA best not forget that, because when all the aura of this being a Star Wars game dies away, all there'll be is just another game like the other games, and the people who've figured that out will be off playing something else. Like me, if EA and Bioware do not rethink things by the time GW2 arrives, then I will be leaving. After all, I'm a Star Wars fan, but I can always go back to the movies.

 

One more thing. I started playing Rift just to get ready for this game. It saddens me to admit to myself how much better Rift is. Still, and despite my negativity, I want to believe in this game, and it is still very young. Add macros, some world events, some reasons for people to engage in some actual open-world pvp so we all have a reason to do something other than hang out at Rep/Imp fleets waiting for queues to pop. Bioware, you have created all these different planets and world to explore, but beyond questing and the 3-5 datacrons per planet, there really isn't much reason to go back out after level 50. These are pretty simple things that other MMOs do. I see no reason why this game shouldn't be vastly improved by GW2's release date, and if it is, then I'm definitely staying with TOR.

 

Sorry about being so long winded, but I truly want to stick with this game, and I know it has great potential. I know I'm just one person, so I don't expect many to pay much attention to what I say, and I doubt EA will miss my subscription $$ to much, but I bet I won't be the only one leaving when GW2 arrives if TOR isn't improved.